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A brand new opera — especially one that is groundbreaking— can really put an opera company on the map. British composer Barry Seaman’s stunning new work, Mirabai, which explores the story of the free thinking, mystic
16th century Hindu princess, Mira, is ambitious on many levels —
artistically, technically and creatively.

Bampton Classical Opera has announced that applications are now open for the
company’s Young Singers’ Competition 2015. This biennial competition was
first launched in 2013 to celebrate Bampton Classical Opera’s 20th
birthday, and is aimed at identifying the finest emerging young opera singers
currently working in the UK.

This is a revised version of my review of the Sept 5th
1991American premiere of The Death of Klinghoffer, at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music. The opera was first performed at Brussels’ La
Monnaie the previous spring.

"Although there are now more people on this planet than there have ever been before, there are fewer dramatic voices. Something is wrong with that equation. I thought there needs to be some sort of helping hand so that dramatic voices don’t fall through the cracks in the system as they advance through their various stages of development."

Anna Prohaska sings Sister Constance in Poulenc’s Dialogues des
Carmélites at the Royal Opera House. In the same month, she’s also in
London to sing a recital with Eric Schneider at the Wigmore Hall, and to sing
Henze with Sir Simon Rattle at the Barbican Hall.

I met with the embattled artistic director of the Opéra et Orchestre National de Montepellier not to talk about his battles. I simply wanted to know the man who had cast and staged a truly extraordinary Mozart/DaPonte trilogy.

Matthew Polenzani reprises the role of the Chevalier des Grieux in Jules Massenet’s Manon at the Royal Opera House. “I love coming back to London”, he says, “It’s a very good house and they take care of you as a singer. And the level of music making is unbelievably high”.

The Flying Dutchman is a transitional piece because Wagner was only beginning to establish his style. He took some aspects from Carl Maria von Weber and others from Italian composers like Vincenzo Bellini.

On a personal level, I feel that Dolores is almost like Emmeline grown up. Their circumstances are not exactly parallel, but they are both women at very different points in their lives whose stories involve dilemmas with life-changing outcomes.

Commentary

09 Jun 2009

Royal Ballet’s Ondine heralds new Henze season in London

In April 2010, the Royal Opera House, London, will stage a new production of Hans Werner Henze's opera Elegy for Young Lovers. Henze is perhaps the greatest living German opera composer, hugely important in Europe, so this new production is eagerly awaited.

Ondine is an excellent herald for the opera, and indeed a year of
interesting Henze events. Phaedra, (2006) will be heard at the Barbican in
London next year, the highlight of a Henze retrospective. In May 2010, the very
latest opera, L’Immolazione premieres in May 2010 at the Accademia di St.
Cecilia in Rome.

Henze has long had a special place in Covent Garden. Ondine was a high
profile commission for a composer still barely 30 years old, and proved to be a
major breakthrough. He’d already made his name in opera. Boulevard
Solitude (1948) his first opera, (heard in a new production at the Royal Opera
House in 2001) is now established repertoire.

Ondine is excellent preparation for next year’s operas. The ballet was
commissioned by Sir Frederick Ashton to showcase Margot Fonteyn. Henze’s
music thus focuses on images of water, tides and waves, for the sea is
Ondine’s element. She’s supernatural, so her music is magically
lyrical. When she dances in the waterfall, the colours in the orchestration
shimmer around her. In comparison, scenes that take place on land, especially
in Act 2, are relatively earthbound, but that’s the essence of the plot.
Palemon dies, but Ondine lives on, immortal.

The music flows so seamlessly into dance that you can almost see semi
quavers enacted in movement. Every note reflects in dance. Pizzicato becomes en
pointe, the interplay of piano, harp, and celeste become intricate ensemble.
The guitar part is more than mere “Italianate colour”, for Henze
loves the instrument and has written more for it than any modern composer.

Seeing Ondine in performance shows just how good a composer Henze was and
is. Sir Frederick Ashton and the audiences of 1958 found the music difficult,
but Henze, a devoted balletomane, wrote intuitively for dance. Now the music
poses no problems. Instead, we can appreciate how it respects the physical
demands of ballet. Despite the undulating, wavering beauty of the scoring there
are firm undercurrents and a strong dramatic pulse.

The water spirits form a circle, their arms undulating, like a giant sea
anemone, moving with the ocean tides. Graceful as the image is, it’s also
powerfully muscular, underlined by the depth and energy of the music. Sea
anemones look delicate, but they’re strong, a lot like ballerinas. I
learned Ondine from the audio recording conducted by Oliver Knussen. Now the
image of the ondines in the corps de ballet will remain with me.

The sets were designed by Lila Di Nobili, who also designed the British
premiere of Elegy for Young Lovers at Glyndebourne in 1961. Sir Frederick
Ashton wanted to pay tribute to 19th century ballet tradition, so the set is
lushly romantic, complete with proscenium arches, like a cherished museum
piece. Against this background, the dancers seem all the more youthful and
vibrant.

Both Ansanelli and Hristov were replacements for scheduled dancers. Given
that these roles were immortalized by Fonteyn and Michael Somes, they did well.
Most impressive, though was Kenta Kura’s Tirrenio. It’s a wonderful
character part, which Kura made wholly convincing. When he leaps on stage, his
costume flowing in the air, he really does seem a powerful, mercurial Lord of
the Mediterranean. The corps was disciplined and energetic. The Royal Opera
House chorus is justly famous for its ensemble work : perhaps sharing
facilities with the Royal Ballet contributes.

In April the Royal Opera House produced an unusual double bill – Handel and
Purcell – but with an added attraction, combining opera with dance.
Ballet and opera audiences don’t mix often enough. Perhaps, given
Henze’s facility for writing for both genres, we’ll see more of his
work in future years.